A modern network element is usually composed of multiple different field replaceable components. For example, a 1U high network element would have one or more removable transceivers (e.g., a small-form pluggable (SFP) transceivers) that can be removed and/or replaced at a customer premise. In addition, a multiple card chassis network element can include removable line cards, control cards, power supplies as well as removable transceivers on the lines and the chassis.
As a network element becomes more popular, the incentive for counterfeiting the removable network element components increases. For example, a transceiver may be counterfeited by an unscrupulous outfit that purchases cheap transceivers of dubious quality and learns how to reprogram the identifier (ID) Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) chip that is used to store the identifier information for the transceiver. This can happen by this outfit purchasing an authentic transceiver and dumping the contents of the ID EEPROM using an inexpensive protocol analyzer. This outfit can now program an unlimited number of cheap transceivers by essentially cloning the EEPROM contents on the transceiver. By adding counterfeit stickers to the transceiver, these parts can be added into the sales channel.
Alternatively, unscrupulous employees at a contract manufacturer can illicitly obtain modules from a transceiver assembly line. For example, transceivers may be rejected during manufacturing or the assembly line may continue to produce additional transceivers beyond the official count requested by the transceiver producer. Because these parts come from an official production line, these parts contain hardware and software identical to authentic transceivers.
Another way of counterfeiting a transceiver is to snoop on the bus between the transceiver and the network element and record the transactions between the transceiver and the network element. The counterfeiter can adapt a counterfeit transceiver or create a new one from scratch to replay the previously recorded messages.
Similarly, an unscrupulous party can counterfeit the field replaceable units of a network element, such as removable line cards, control cards, power supplies, fan modules, and the chassis. It would be useful to detect counterfeit components of a network element so as to disable these components in order to ensure that the components used by the network element are authentic.